The present invention relates generally to vents and particularly to a food storage building floor and a method of constructing the same.
Certain fresh fruits and vegetables may be stored in bulk in buildings with controlled atmospheres including circulation of the air for the purpose of retaining produce freshness or decreasing the time within which produce spoilage might occur. In a typical food storage building, air is circulated through a large plenum and into air ducts located below the building floor. The air ducts may be formed by pony walls juxtaposed the plenum that also support the floor. The air then travels through vents located within the floor and circulates through the stored fruits or vegetables.
There are a number of building floor systems that have been used. However none of them accomplish the result as contemplated by the present invention. Typically, the floors include thousands of individual vents positioned within the concrete. These floors may require a large amount of money and labor to construct and the concrete surrounding the vents must be done in a single pour. Adverse weather conditions may hinder this construction. They may also be susceptible to damage from equipment or vehicles on the floor. For example, some storage building floors utilizes wooden slots that are placed over concrete slabs. The typical commodity storage facility floor will have thousands of such air vents. The wood slots create an uneven floor surface making it difficult to load and unload bulk produce and to clean the storage building.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,172 to Tegland discloses a storage floor air vent and method of use that includes placing the vents, that are each plugged with a block out, in holes in metal sheets, pouring concrete over the entire floor area including the vents, and finally breaking through and removing the concrete surface above each storage floor air vent and the block out thereby permitting passage of air through the storage floor air vent. The patent referred to herein are provided herewith in an Information Disclosure Statement in accordance with 37 CFR 1.97.
The present invention discloses a storage floor air vent which may comprise at least two vent walls positioned in substantially parallel relation to thereby define a channel having a width in between said at least two vent walls, each of said at least two vent walls having a top end, a bottom end, a first side end, and a second side end; a plurality of angular baffle members, each angular baffle member composed of two segments forming an apex therebetween, each segment having an end; said plurality of angular baffle members may be positioned in between said at least two vent walls in a linear arrangement, with each apex facing upward proximal the top end of each of said at least two vent walls, and each angular baffle member is positioned a distance apart from the adjacent angular baffle member to thereby define an orifice between the segment ends of adjacent angular baffle members.
The orifice may be of various sizes depending upon the storage contents and ventilation requirements.
The storage floor air vent may further comprise a flange extending outwardly and approximately normal from the bottom end of each of said at least two vent walls.
The storage floor air vent may further comprise at least one cap having a width approximately equal to the channel width; said at least one cap is positioned atop at least two of said apexes. The at least one cap may be of various shapes, sizes or configurations. The cap prevents any concrete or other material from entering the vent while a floor is being poured.
The invention further discloses a building floor which may comprise a lower floor; a plurality of pony walls positioned atop the lower floor in substantially parallel relation; an upper floor positioned atop the plurality of pony walls to thereby define an air duct in between adjacent pony walls and said lower and upper floors, said upper floor comprising at least one storage floor air vent positioned atop the plurality of pony walls in a substantially orthogonal relation to said plurality of pony walls with each vent wall bottom end proximal the air duct in between adjacent pony walls. Additional embodiments may include other air duct configurations including, but not limited to, conduit or pipes that transmit air.
The building floor may further comprise at least one plenum juxtaposed said air duct in between adjacent pony walls.
The invention further discloses a method of constructing a building floor comprising the steps of: placing at least one storage floor air vent in a substantially orthogonal position across a plurality of pony walls in substantially parallel relation to each other, said at least one storage floor air vent having at least one cap covering the top end of the at least one storage floor air vent; placing at least one support sheet across said pony walls and next to said at least one storage floor air vent and atop each flange; covering the floor area, encompassing the at least one support sheet, with a concrete slab sufficiently to permit concrete finishing; and removing the at least one cap. Said at least one support sheet is preferably composed of galvanized metal but may be composed of other materials including, but not limited to, plastics or other rigid materials. Each vent apex is preferably positioned a distance below the top of the upper floor to thereby prevent damage from any equipment or vehicles atop the upper floor. Builders using the vents described herein will appreciate that the floor may be poured in sections. They may pour concrete only between two vents and need not complete the entire floor in a single pour.
In an alternative embodiment, the method may further comprise the steps of initially forming a lower floor; and forming a plurality of pony walls atop said lower floor in substantially parallel relation before placing at least one storage floor air vent across the plurality of pony walls.
In an alternative embodiment, the method may further comprise the step of: finishing the concrete slab edges adjacent the at least one cap 60 before removing the at least one cap.